The Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd was a spontaneous read for me. It was sitting on my roommate's bookshelf and I opened it. I mean, I had heard good things about it and had intentions of reading it at some point. And so I did. Before I had read it, and even during, people would comment on how good it was. This was one of the first books where I was surprised at how neutral I felt about it. There's nothing, absolutely nothing, wrong with the book--but I didn't love it. For having heard such good things, I am surprised at my own blankness about it. 

The setting of the book is in South Carolina in the 1960s with the premise of  racial conflict. Lily Owens is the main character as a white 14 year old girl, who's mother has died at a young age. It leaves her to live with her racist father, and her black nanny on a peach plantation. Through the story, Lily is trying to resolve issues from her family and past meanwhile growing into a young person. As far as the story goes, the plot is fairly simple. She runs from home, she discovers herself and things about her mother, conflict is resolved, and the end. 

One of the things that surprised me about the story was how fanciful it was. In my reading experience, the majority of novels set in the 1960s and have African American persons have not been happy stories. So, really I can't say that the setting fits the story, or at least the outcome of the story. It is too unrealistic in the sense that this 14 year old girl gets everything she wants. For me, there was not enough tension in the story. The majority of the middle section of the book was a lot of just... nothing. I can't even think of a word for it. Events do happen, relationships are built and developed. But the story is not defined but this huge chuck of the book. It's possible that I did not reach an emotional connection to the characters, or lost interest. 


The disappointing thing is that I've been wanting to read this book for so long, I want to like it. I want to love the book. It's even in a genre that I generally would love (not to mention the writing style is very similar to my own fictional writing style). But the story was so neutral. It seemed to be missing a crucial element. I would not be surprised if the movie was more of an emotional experience for me than the written (and original) version. That will be for a different time, however.

Unmoved,
Emily

The Joy Luck Club

Amy Tan is a genius. I mean, this book is incredible. Titled The Joy Luck Club, this novel an adventure on what it means to be Chinese. Sure, the book is actually about four mothers and their four daughters, but there is so much more than relationships being told. This story was a tale of discovering what it really means to be a part of China. Through the eyes, and experiences of eight different women, Tan makes this thought provoking story. In the summary of the author in the back flap of my version of the book, Amy Tan quoted her mother with these words: "As soon as my feet touched China, I became Chinese." This quote is the core of the novel (according to my depiction).

So much of this story is so realistic and in such detail, that I knew that Tan was not pulling these emotions out of air. These were someone's stories, or at least that's the way it felt. It's easy to whine about the different view points (the novel has four sections: 2 of the mothers', and 2 of the daughters). It is difficult to combine eight different experiences while making a single story, however I did not find that the plot was the story of the book. This was not a book about a person, a development, a climax, or a defeated villain. The story may have contained some of these elements, but that's not what I took away from it. But to clarify, it is the story of four Chinese-American daughters to immigrants who are contrasted with the stories of their mothers. The drastic differences 

Amy Tan, author, with her mother. 

One of my favorite things about reading novels about China, or have a Chinese foundation, is that one can always learn something new about China. There is no way that a single person can know all of the Chinese gods, or know all of Chinese history. There is so much left to learn about that country. With this in mind, I found great joy in this aspect of the story alone, while also enjoying the aspects of Chinese culture I have already learned about. For those who are lovers of Asia, I highly suggest this read. Not to mention the very heart warming finish that left me with the perfect amount of tears: just one. (Not even a lie). 

Besides that, reading just expands the mind and it allows for ignorance to diminish. Reading this novel, reminded me that at one time in my life I did not know anything about Asia, more specifically China. All I've done since that time is read [A LOT], but read none the less. 

For the growth of knowledge, and love of mothers,
Emily & Jeoffry the Cat